Sweet Surprise
by spiralnebulaM31
Summary: It's Regina's birthday again and it doesn't feel right. Can her little prince make everything better? Pre season 1 Regal Believer.


_**A/N:** For Franzi (soligblomma) :* Unbeta-ed, so all mistakes are mine._

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Regina tiptoes downstairs as silently as she can. It's Sunday and the first light of the day has just begun showing. It's too early for Henry to be up and the last thing Regina wants is to be the reason her son loses his sleep. She can't sleep, but that doesn't mean her eight year old boy should be awake at the crack of dawn as well.

She goes down the stairs in her silk pyjamas and comfy slippers, bothering only to put on her thin robe to stop the chills the cold winter morning is still giving her. Before passing through the dining room to go to the kitchen, she stops at the hallway mirror. She looks into it and almost doesn't recognize herself. She knows her body is ageing in Storybrooke, not when everyone is still under the Dark Curse, so it's ridiculous to think that she _looks_ older just because this day marks yet another year of her life passing.

But there she is, make-up free, dark circles under her eyes after a sleepless night, vision blurred from the fatigue and the additional glasses of scotch she had before attempting to sleep, and cheeks hollow (Why do her cheeks look like that? It doesn't look healthy and she has no idea when she stopped looking healthy).

She stays there to stare at herself for a little longer to decide what to do. Coffee, she needs coffee. She finally heads to the kitchen and makes a double dose of strong black coffee. Her stomach complains after the first few sips and she knows she should eat something. Signing exasperatedly, she opens the refrigerator door and freezes in place. Her jaw literally drops open and her heart beats loudly in her chest. She didn't expect this. Out of all the things that could happen, she definitely didn't expect a huge birthday cake miraculously finding itself in the fridge on her birthday that no one knew about.

 _Happy Birthday, Mom_

White sugary letters on dark chocolate – her favorite kind of chocolate – and when Regina notices them everything clicks. She had an emergency town meeting on Saturday evening. She found out when she was picking up dinner for her and Henry at Granny's after a long freezing afternoon with Henry at the park. Ruby had offered to watch Henry, and Regina, not knowing what else she could do in the last moment, accepted and let them get back to the mansion with their dinner and some more food for Ruby. When she returned a couple of hours later she ate her own cold dinner in the company of Henry who kept talking about Ruby's wolf drawings that looked _so real_ (Regina rolled her eyes at that, trying to not make it too obvious to her son). And then she wanted to clean up, but Henry insisted to help and let her only do the dishes. Now that she thought about it, he tried a little too hard to not let her get near the refrigerator, but Regina was tired and didn't even think to question him, just made sure he was bathed and slipped with him in bed to read a few pages before sleep took him.

Tears well up in her eyes, tears of joy that complement her wide smile.

After the initial surprise, she shakes herself out of the moment and tries to think rationally. Henry obviously wanted it to be a surprise – and it was, but he wouldn't know it if he wasn't actually in the moment. She doesn't know how she found out, because he didn't know, she could always escape from any birthday celebrations, assuring him that her birthday wasn't important. But now this surprise seems to be important for Henry, and Regina won't disappoint him. She closes the door of the refrigerator, grabs a pack of fruit biscuits from the cupboard and her mug, and goes back to her bedroom, again as silently as possible.

The sun is shining through her curtains when she hears Henry calling her. She opens her eyes with difficulty, her eyelids heavy against the bright sunrays, and realizes that she fell asleep sometime after starting her third biscuit that's fallen on the floor. She cringes at the cramps and the mess she's made, but dismisses it for now, because she feels more energetic than she's felt for weeks. She has only slept for a few hours, but the happiness and anticipation inside her since she saw the cake makes her feel lighter and inexplicably younger.

"I'm coming, Henry," she says as she gets out of bed and goes to the bathroom to splash some water on her face.

Henry is in the kitchen when she goes down the stairs. She finds him in front of the refrigerator, practically jumping up and down from excitement. She wants to laugh and cry at the same time, but tries to stop every reaction so that Henry doesn't see that she knows. She plants a kiss on the top of his head and returns his smile.

"Mom, look!" Henry says as he opens the fridge.

Regina's smile widens when she sees the cake again and just when she thought she wouldn't cry this time, Henry's little arms are around her waist and he's saying _happy birthday, Mom_ over and over. Regina hugs him back and thanks him. After a moment, she reaches up to wipe the tears from her cheeks and Henry pulls away and looks up at her, frowning when he sees her watery eyes.

"Happy tears?" he asks with all the innocence a child his age still has.

"Definitely happy," Regina says.

Henry nods and Regina knows he believes her because there have been so many times that made Regina feel touched and grateful that she has him, so many times that she couldn't contain the tears of happiness since he came into her life.

"Henry, how did you know?" she asks

Henry looks down and his cheeks become rosy. "I got your ID out of your wallet and checked to see when your birthday is. I knew you did have a birthday, Mom, and we should celebrate your birthdays, too, because your birthdays are special, too," Henry says, looking back up slowly again and biting his lower lip.

Regina is smiling through her tears and brings her boy close to her again, hugging him tightly before thanking him once more.

They spent the morning having cake for breakfast in their pyjamas and in the afternoon they take the rest of the cake to Granny's to give some to the town people. Regina tries to smile at everyone when they wish her happy birthday and with Henry's excitement every time she does, she finds it easier than she thought.

She goes to sleep with a tiny smile still on her face, not feeling older, but not feeling much younger either. She just feels content and she thanks every power in the universe that brought her little prince into her life.


End file.
